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The current political landscape and key policy discussions on education, labor and healthcare issues will occupy center stage at the AFT's national convention in Washington, D.C., this week.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is scheduled to address the more than 3,000 delegates during the July 14-17 gathering at the Washington Convention Center. AFT president Sandra Feldman will deliver her final keynote address as the union's president. Feldman is stepping down for health reasons after seven years as AFT's top leader.
During the four-day convention, delegates will elect a new president, secretary-treasurer and executive vice president, as well as the union's executive council. Delegates also will debate and vote on policy resolutions on such subjects as the No Child Left Behind Act, privatization, early childhood education, reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, new overtime regulations, the healthcare insurance crisis, the economy and jobs, Iraq and democracy, and the Patriot Act.
Other scheduled speakers include the District of Columbia's Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who will receive the union's Bayard Rustin Award, and Azar Nafisi, author of the best-selling novel, Reading Lolita in Tehran. (July 7, 2004)
